Bill Nye
| died= | hometown= Washington D.C. | knownfor= Science Education Host | season= Dancing with the Stars 17 | partner= Tyne Stecklein | place= 11 | highestscore= 17 (Paso Doble) | lowestscore= 14 (Cha-Cha-Cha) | averagescore= 15.6 }} William Sanford "Bill" Nye is a celebrity from Season 17 of Dancing with the Stars. Early Life and Education Nye was born in Washington, D.C. to Jacqueline (née Jenkins; 1921–2000), a codebreaker during World War II, and Edwin Darby "Ned" Nye (1917–97), also a World War II veteran, whose experience without electricity in a Japanese prisoner of war camp led him to become a sundial enthusiast. His maternal grandmother was French, from Dancevoir. After attending Lafayette Elementary and Alice Deal Junior High in the city, he was accepted to the private Sidwell Friends School on a partial scholarship and graduated in 1973. He studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University (where he took an astronomy class taught by Carl Sagan) and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1977. Nye occasionally returns to Cornell as a professor to guest-lecture introductory-level astronomy and human ecology classes. Career Nye began his career in Seattle at Boeing, where (among other things) he starred in training films and developed a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor for the 747. Later, he worked as a consultant in the aeronautics industry. In 1999 he told the St. Petersburg Times that he applied to be a NASA astronaut every few years, but was always rejected. Bill Nye the Science Guy Nye began his professional entertainment career as a writer/actor on a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, called Almost Live! The host of the show, Ross Shafer, suggested he do some scientific demonstrations in a six-minute segment, and take on the nickname "The Science Guy". His other main recurring role on Almost Live! was as Speedwalker, a speedwalking Seattle superhero. From 1991 to 1993, he appeared in the live-action educational segments of Back to the Future: The Animated Series in the nonspeaking role of assistant to Dr. Emmett Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd), in which he would demonstrate science while Lloyd explained. The segments' national popularity led to Nye's hosting an educational television program, Bill Nye the Science Guy, from 1993 to 1998. Each of the 100 episodes aimed to teach a specific topic in science to an audience, yet it garnered a wide adult audience as well. With its comedic overtones, the show became popular as a teaching aid in schools. When portraying "The Science Guy", Nye wears a light blue lab coat and a bow tie. Nye has also written several books as The Science Guy. In addition to hosting, he was a writer and producer for the show. All of it was filmed in Seattle. Nye's Science Guy personally appears alongside Ellen DeGeneres and Alex Trebek in a video at Ellen's Energy Adventure, an attraction that has been playing since 1996 at the Universe of Energy pavilion inside Epcot at Walt Disney World. His voice is heard in the Dinosaur attraction in Disney's Animal Kingdom park, teaching guests about the dinosaurs while they queue for the ride. He appears in video form in the "Design Lab" of CyberSpace Mountain, inside DisneyQuest at Walt Disney World, where he refers himself as "Bill Nye the Coaster Guy." Personal Life Since 2014, Nye has divided his time between the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles and the Chelsea district of Manhattan, though he has also owned a house on Mercer Island. As of July 2007, Nye and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. are engaging in a friendly competition "to see who could have the lowest carbon footprint," according to Begley. In a 2008 interview, Nye joked that he wants to "crush Ed Begley" in their environmental competition. Nye and Begley are neighbors in Los Angeles, and sometimes dine together at a local vegetarian restaurant. Nye often appears on Begley's Planet Green reality show Living with Ed. Nye enjoys baseball and occasionally does experiments involving the physics of the game. As a longtime Seattle resident before becoming an entertainer, he is said to have been a fan of the Seattle Mariners, although recently he has voiced his preference (as a D.C. native) for the Washington Nationals.He also played Ultimate while in college and for a period of time while living in Seattle. In July 2012, Nye endorsed President Barack Obama's reelection bid. Nye announced his engagement during an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and was married to his fiancée of five months, musician Blair Tindall, on 3 February 2006. The ceremony was performed by Rick Warren at The Entertainment Gathering at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Yo-Yo Ma provided the music. Nye left the relationship seven weeks later when the marriage license was declared invalid. In 2007, Nye received a protective order against Tindall after an incident in which she came onto his property and used herbicide to damage his garden. Tindall admitted this, but denied being a threat to him. In 2012, Nye sued Tindall for unpaid attorney's fees he incurred while he went to court in 2009 to enforce the protective order against Tindall after she allegedly violated it. According to Nye's court filings, she was ordered to pay these fees; to date, she has not paid any of it. Nye is an avid swing dancer and describes himself as agnostic. Dancing with the Stars 17 Scores Gallery Bill-Nye-Tyne-Stecklein-dancing-with-the-stars.jpg Bill Nye 17.jpg DWTS-S17E01.jpg Category:Males Category:Contestants Category:Actors Category:Season 17 contestants